The G scale live steam group I am a member of attended the train show this past weekend at the Lincoln Sq mall in Urbana IL. This is the first show here since Covid shut everything down, but unlike the shows in Indiana, this one had about half the dealers it usually does. A craft show backfilled the remaining spots but they all mostly bailed by noon/1pm and it left lots of open dead space that was usually filled with tables full of trains. One huge dealer has left the show circuit, so that was one of the big empty areas. Many of the prices were in left field, but there was some good deals to be had. While I have mostly left HO scale, I have a soft spot for trollies, especially brass ones. I nabbed a pair of Fairfield Traction cars for $75 for the pair, one having a custom Escap motor repower with a custom combined flywheel/spring belt pulley. The other is a big Pullman car for the Chicago Surface Lines. That emptied my wallet early in the show, but late in the day, I sold an item I had brought along to sell and I went back and got the much newer run MTS CLS Nearside car with its underfloor drive, all wheel power pickup and all wheel drive.
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
Those are nice items you found there.
I do like Train shows, you never know what you will find.
Solid purchases!
Yea that was my first time ever going to the show in Urbana (or midwest in general), since the prior years were canceled due to covid. I didn't see anything of interest either, I only bought two things, both from my own booth since we priced everything to sell and get rid of, not to profit off of. Bought a proto 2000 freight car kit for $10, and a F&C PRR Caboose built by a friend for $10.
After going to a dozen shows per year in the northeast, I must admit I miss their larger size and better variety. Afterall, it appears Illinois has a larger railfan community than modeler comminuty, unlike the north-east coast.
Charles
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Modeling the PRR & NYC in HO
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Nice! I don't remember seeing those on the tables, so you must have picked them up before I got there.
I also found some good stuff there including a P2K GP30, Gilbert HO DL-600, some Roundhouse Pullman kits and Walthers auto-carriers. I hung around the live steam layout for a while too, and those were some impressive pieces of equipment running around the track!
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Glad to hear everyone seems to have enjoyed the show despite it not doing a vortex on your wallet...
Yeah, the pandemic and change over the few years we were off meant that the commercial end of things was a little underwhelming vs past shows. Another major vendor was out with major surgery, but we hope for a return to a more populous vendior base in 2023.
And we hope to make a different arrangement with the Saturday Market that is in the space until noon for 2023 also so that things aren't so sparse in the middle after they pack out at noon. We tried to come up with an alternative activity to fill the space after noon on Saturday, but that didn't work out. All fair concerns, just didn't have a solution for 2022.
But keep in mind this is a non-profit, free show, so there's not a lot to spend on some things those bigger shows can afford. We did the usual notice in MR and even one in Trains (the observation about there being a lot of railfans is apt and that seemed to aid in bringing them out) plus the other usuall mix of other hobby pubs. Also did a little local TV and newspaper, plus I did a radio interview, also some of the usual Facebook and nextdoor. We were really happy with the crowd and mostly heard nothing but positives from the mall tenants and various vendors attending.
I know I talked to more active modelers, including narrowgaugers, than I have at previous shows. Perhaps having the HOn3 portable layout in conjunction with the Miller module and memorial helped make people more talkative. Genuinely hope that some are able to drop by the layout here at home and see it. I'm still trying to develop a base of operators with a taste for narrowgauge so if you missed me at the show, keep in mind I have an open invitation for those with an interest in actually running some trains.
I missed getting any pics of my own layout at the show, but another one of our NMRA members was documenting things and gave me permission to use a few images from stuff I missed documenting. So these are Ernie Noa pics, used with permission.
My a bit out of the ordinary HOn3 4x8, with me and one of our younger members, Thomas Northway, looking over it,mthe miller module and the Northway 4x8, which represents Tuscola.
The Illinois Terminal Division NMRA table.
The ever-busy make and take tables
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
One of the interesting things about train shows is how sensory overload can set in and you utterly fail to notice something until your second, third or even fourth wandering past a given table. And it isn't just a matter of not looking for stuff down on the floor, which I often fail to do -- at times the golden fleece you seek is right there in plain sight the whole time. Ideally of course you yourself finally find it, rather than having someone brag "look what I found!" and you totally missed it and could have had it.
Dave Nelson
Sensory overload is all day long for me as I am on the autism spectrum. Every show is a good show vs not having them at all. I had my new green Roundhouse Billy live steamer running on the live steam layout several times and my coal fired version on display for conversation and enjoyment of all. If you attend some of the other shows our group sets up at, you can see coal fired G scale live steam running. Plenty of room for more dealers at Urbana, even when the craft vendors were set up, there was plenty of room. Maybe for next year, the craft vendors could be encouraged to stay longer into the afternoon. Many modelers have their wife/spouse with them and those vendors would appeal to them. Looking forward to the show next year.
Slightly off topic but has anyone been to the train shows in Wheaton, IL? Ive been meaning to go up there, but havent really gotten a chance yet. Being a show that happens literally every month, I was curious what people though of the show variety. Is the show big? Is there always rare/neat/new stuff? Or is it one of those shows where its the same vendors with the same unsold items everytime?
Trainman440 Slightly off topic but has anyone been to the train shows in Wheaton, IL? Ive been meaning to go up there, but havent really gotten a chance yet. Being a show that happens literally every month, I was curious what people though of the show variety. Is the show big? Is there always rare/neat/new stuff? Or is it one of those shows where its the same vendors with the same unsold items everytime? Charles
In the 90's, Wheaton IL show was masive, had lots of brass and other hard to find stuff. Even in the dead of winter in a Chicago snow storm there would be tables set up in the parking lot. I have swept snow off brass boxes so I can look at a model! Back then there was a multi year waiting list to even get tables inside the front 2 buildings. Then the show gradually started to decline. The last time I went, back in 2019, it was not worth the 4.5 hours worth of gas to get there. Even non train vendors selling craft stuff and even Bath Fitter was there! It was sad to see that event fall to that level, with empty tables, non train vendors and lots of open space that was once crammed packed with trains. The last good BIG show I went to was one held on the south side of Cleveland Ohio that takes up several buildings. We would go to the show, then drop back down to Medina to Ormandy's hobby shop, a great old school Marklin shop(I was big into Marklin HO back then, still have a little bit stuff still).
emdmikePlenty of room for more dealers at Urbana, even when the craft vendors were set up, there was plenty of room. Maybe for next year, the craft vendors could be encouraged to stay longer into the afternoon.
Are you saying that the craft vendors were mixed in with the train folks? I would never attend a show set up like that.
The two flavors should not be mixed. That way if one of the flavors melts away it would not leave large empty spaces where the train flavor lives.
maxmanAre you saying that the craft vendors were mixed in with the train folks?
Nope, not the way it was. More like side by side.
I won't go into the entire backstory, but this year was "complicated" between the pandemic recovery mode, a new Saturday market vendor who lacked previous experience with the train show, and some other things not worth revisiting at this point. We're hoping things are more like previous shows next year, where the Saturday market was located so that when it shut down at noon, it didn't leave a big hole to fill.
For myself, I didnt mind the craft stuff, and there was some really beautifuly done craft items for sale. Hopefully next year will be even better. Every show that gets us all out of the house and enjoying life is a good show. Doesn't matter if you find things to buy or not. Just visiting with friends that one might not see, except at shows, is time well spent.